A news conference was held in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning to officially announce the fight, which is a crossroads clash between Mares and the younger and unbeaten Davis.

Mares lost to WBA Super World featherweight titleholder Leo Santa Cruz by unanimous decision in his last bout on June 9 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The fight was a rematch of their August 2015 clash, which Santa Cruz also won by a close, majority decision.

After the first Santa Cruz fight, Mares sought the services of Oxnard trainer Robert Garcia. With Garcia in his corner over the last two years, Mares defeated WBA featherweight titleholder Jesus Cuellar and contender Andres Gutierrez.

Mares (31-3-1, 15 knockouts) believes his move up to 130 pounds and his experience will be enough to win a world title belt. The 33-year-old Mares has won world title belts in three different weight classes (118, 122, and 126 pounds).

“We’re not just going into this fight blind,” said Mares, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and grew up in Hawaiian Gardens. “I’m not stupid. I’m taking this fight because I see something in this guy. It’s a tough fight, no doubt. All fights are tough. He’s in for a good fight.”

Davis (20-0, 19 KOs), who lives and trains in Baltimore, will have a size and speed advantage over Mares. The southpaw Davis has not fought since April 21, when he stopped Cuellar in the third round in Brooklyn, New York.

The 24-year-old Davis has been at odds this past year with promoter Floyd Mayweather, venting his frustrations on social media about being inactive.

“No comment,” responded Davis when asked to give Mayweather a grade as a promoter in an interview to Fighthype.

Davis has put aside his differences with Mayweather to focus on Mares, who will have a partisan crowd in his favor on Feb. 9. While Davis has stated he would like to unify all the world title belts at 130 pounds, he is not overlooking Mares.

“I believe that Abner Mares is a future Hall of Famer because he’s fought so many top-level guys,” said Davis. “This is a big fight for me because this is my first time being a main event in the U.S. and I just feel blessed to be here.”

Davis fought on the undercard of the Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight on Aug. 26, 2017. Davis stopped Costa Rica’s Francisco Fonseca, but was stripped of the IBF world title belt for failing to make weight the day before at the weigh-in.

“I don’t know what Abner sees, but he was sure he wanted to take this fight so obviously he sees something. I have power, speed, movement, and really a blend of everything. I believe that I’m a better fighter than him,” Davis said.

Mares, who provides expert analysis on "Boxeo Telemundo" telecasts Friday nights on the Spanish-language Telemundo network, believes having Garcia in his corner will give him the edge.

“We’ll already have 50 percent of the fight won just by having a good corner, a good team, and a great plan. The other 50 percent is up to the fighter to perform,” Mares said.

“One day I just thought to myself that this fight against Gervonta Davis would be a great matchup and that I can win it. There are other big fights at featherweight that I could have gotten. I’m taking this fight because of the challenge that it brings. I’m all about that.”

Garcia agrees.

“Abner is very motivated. We have very strong sparring partners and he’s doing a great job in the (Riverside) gym already,” Garcia said. “Come Feb. 9, everyone is in for a surprise. I respect Gervonta Davis and his team, but I think Abner is hungrier and looking to make history.”

Garcia fighters impress

Two fighters who are trained by Garcia came away victorious earlier this month at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio.

Lightweight Hector Tanajara Jr. of San Antonio overcame a knockdown in the fourth round to win a 10-round unanimous decision over fringe contender Robert Manzanarez on Dec. 8.

Scores were 95-92, 95-92, and 97-90 for Tanajara, who improves to 16-0, 5 KOs.

Manzanarez, who resides in Phoenix, has lost his last two bouts and falls to 36-3, 29 KOs.